Hawaii and Drexel nursing: licenses, the Board and preceptors

No Drexel exclusion list names Hawaii, so island residents can choose any program, from an NP track to the RN-to-BSN.

The Hawaii Board of Nursing's FAQ answers the post-licensure question plainly. Its examples are bridge programs like LPN-to-RN and RN-to-BSN: an online school from elsewhere with no Hawaii campus files no application and owes the Board no notice. Such a school's faculty need Hawaii licensure only if they teach or precept in person on the islands.

Pre-licensure is stricter. Under HRS 457-13(2), the student exemption covers only programs the Hawaii Board accredits, and in September 2016 an Education Committee discussion ended with agreement that an out-of-state BSN program from North Dakota couldn't send a pre-license student to Hawaii for clinicals.

Graduate NP programs fall between those two answers: no Hawaii source in our research addresses APRN programs specifically. Raise Hawaii with your track director, copying sara@drexel.edu, before you commit to a site. Our state authorization guide covers Drexel's side.

Hawaii has never joined the Nurse Licensure Compact. Multistate licenses issued by Pennsylvania or anywhere else grant no practice privilege on the islands, and clinical hours in Hawaii need a Hawaii-issued RN license.

Drexel's compliance page lets a home-state multistate license replace a Pennsylvania one, but that option doesn't exist for a Hawaii resident. Expect to hold Pennsylvania plus Hawaii, which also satisfies the program pages' call for Pennsylvania licensure before clinicals. The Pennsylvania RN license guide explains both of Drexel's readings.

HRS 235-110.25, enacted by Act 43 of 2018, created Hawaii's preceptor tax credit: a nonrefundable state income tax credit for each volunteer, uncompensated supervised clinical training rotation, capped per year. To claim it, a preceptor must live in Hawaii, practice primary care there and be a physician, osteopathic physician, APRN or pharmacist. The Hawaii Department of Health certifies rotations under a statewide annual limit, and Form N-358 (Rev. 2025) shows no sunset date.

Because Drexel lists no preceptor pay, a Drexel rotation should meet the credit's unpaid condition. Our research doesn't say whether rotations for out-of-state students qualify, so a preceptor should confirm with the Department of Health. The primary care focus makes the credit most relevant for FNP, AGPCNP and pediatric primary care preceptors.

Urban Honolulu holds most of the state's clinical capacity, with Kahului-Wailuku on Maui and Hilo-Kailua on the Big Island next. On Oahu, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, The Queen's Health Systems and Hawaii Pacific Health, whose hospitals include Straub, Kapiolani, Pali Momi and Wilcox, are the big names; the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) rounds out the list. AANP rates Hawaii full practice.

For Drexel, the preceptor is a board-certified NP, CNM or approved-specialty physician with a year or more behind them (preceptor requirements).

We search your island first, for Hawaii-licensed NPs and physicians who fit Drexel's list, and we point eligible primary care preceptors to the state's tax credit so saying yes is easier. Everything Drexel's contracting and compliance teams need arrives together. If a preceptor drops, we're already working the next lead.